Tony Stark's Daughter
by paprika-chan
Summary: Riley Marlowe was living the good life. She had great parents, and was doing well in school. She was normal. that all changes when an unfortunate incident causes her to lose those she loves most, and discover things she never thought she was capable of. She is forced to redefine and rebuild her family from the ground up. But where to start? How about her birth father- Tony Stark
1. Chapter One

**Prologue**

 **Important Author's Note: To those of you who read the original prologue, I decided to rewrite it. Ignore everything that happened in the original one. I changed the direction of the story quite a bit, but now I have a clearer idea of what I want and what I need to do to get there. Please enjoy the ACTUAL prologue! More to come soon!**

"How was your day, sweetie?" Mrs. Marlowe asked as her daughter, Riley, got into the backseat of the car.

"Learn anything exciting?" her father added.

"It was fine, and not really. Physics was boring, as usual. We learned about lightwaves, but it's all stuff I already knew. And in English we just talked about our upcoming test. Photography was fun though. We got our camera's for the rest of the semester today." She held up the camera in her hand, showing it off.

"That's nice, hun. I know you're looking forward to playing with the camera. I bet you've taken at least twenty pictures already!" Mr. Marlowe smiled playfully in the mirror at his daughter, who grinned back at him.

"32, thank you very much. Mostly just some trees and a bird that flew into the cafeteria. Hey, are we still going to that one restaurant downtown for dinner? There's some cool old buildings down there I wanted to take a picture of. "

Mrs. Marlowe backed out of the parking spot, and made her way off the high school campus. "Are you sure it's the OLD buildings you want to take a picture of?"

Riley frowned at her mom. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Her dad gave her a knowing look. "Come on Riles, we all know you can see the new Avengers Headquarters from the restaurant. And your obsession with them isn't exactly a secret." Riley blushed, unable to deny it.

"Just drive, okay parents?" she mumbled. Her mom laughed, but did as she was told and drove off toward downtown New York City.

"Are we almost there? I think I'm dying of starvation." Riley's stomach growled,

emphasizing her point.

"Don't exaggerate, we're almost there- oh can you get that for me, babe?" Mrs. Marlowe's phone was ringing from inside her purse, but Mr. Marlowe had put in headphones and couldn't hear the phone nor the request."

"Just ignore it mom, it's fine. You can check it when we get there."

Her mom huffed, reaching for her purse, one hand on the wheel, and only partially looking at the road.

"MOM! Just check it later!"

"Riley, you know I'm expecting a call from work! I can't afford to miss this."

At this point, Mr. Marlowe had taken out his earphones. He was looking at something through the driver's window, eyes wide and mouth open. "Laura, watch out!"

Riley heard the crash before she felt it. The sound of metal crumpling filled her ears, the screeching burning into her memory. She felt her stomach shoot up into her throat, as the car began to spin off the road. A bump caused her to lurch forward, slamming her head into the back of her dad's seat. She squeezed her eyes shut, and brought her arms up to try to protect her face from the flying glass.

The next thing Riley could remember was the silence. She tried to call for her parents, but the only thing that came out was a strangled sob. Her throat hurt. She guessed she had been screaming the whole time, but she couldn't remember doing so.

Bracing herself for what she might see, Riley opened her eyes. They were upside-down in a ditch by where the city had been replacing a pipeline. Her mom hung limply from her seat, held on only by the seat belt. Her dad was crumpled on what used to be the ceiling. He hadn't been wearing a seatbelt at all.. Neither of them were breathing.

"No...No...Mom! Dad! Wake up...please wake up...oh God..Oh jeez.." To say Riley was panicking would be an understatement. She was hyperventilating, her tears rolling into her ears. "Some help me...please.." her voice was meek. Barely more than a whisper.

She heard cars going past the scene of the road. How come no one had come to save her? _They must not be able to see us…._

"HELP! WE'RE DOWN HERE! HELP US! SOMEBODY SAVE US." Still, no one came. She tried a few more times.. Nothing. The panic began to take over again, as Riley realized it may be hours before someone noticed them. By then, she could no longer be in a car, but a metal coffin.

Something in the car began to glow. The light filled the vehicle, momentarily blinding Riley. The brightness of it seemed to wash out everything else. It grew brighter the more Riley freaked out. It didn't take Riley long to figure out the thing that was glowing was her. She didn't understand it, but she didn't need to. Right now, she just needed someone to find her.

Someone on the road must have noticed the light, because Riley heard a car stopping and the voice of a woman say, "what the hell is that? Oh...Oh my God, Jason call 911!"

They had been found. She did it. She was going to be saved. Relief overcame her. The light died down, once again leaving her in the darkness of the car. She fought to stay awake, so she could tell the woman what had happened, but it was of no use. She was too dizzy, and the crash had been more than she ever meant to handle. Her eyes closed, and she let herself succumb to unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter One**

 **Author's Note: Sorry this is really long, and probably horribly inaccurate about some (minor) details. Oh well. It happens. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to review and all that jazz. It really means a lot. Thanks for reading!**

It was 2 days after the incident, and Riley was finally being released from the hospital. The last couple days had been hell- full of poking and prodding, and people telling her everything was going to be fine.

She was only eighteen.

Her parents just died.

And she was some kind of glowing freak.

How is that fine? How could anyone expect her to be _fine?!_

"Here are all the documents you need, just sign here and you can be on your way," a friendly nurse said, handing Riley a clipboard with some papers on it. She signed where indicated, and gave the carbon copy to the nurse, who put it in a file.

"Is that all? I can go now?" The nurse nodded. Riley mumbled a thank you and a goodbye, and left the building.

"I'm home!" Riley yelled to no one in particular. It's not like there was anyone there to hear her. She laughed at her morbid humor. She threw her purse on the couch. Everything seemed so...normal. Like nothing had happened at all. The cup she had left on the counter the morning of the accident was still there. The carpet still needed to be vacuumed. There was still laundry waiting to be washed.

Laundry...her dad used to do all the laundry. Riley wasn't sure she even knew how to turn on the machine. _I guess that's what Google is for,_ she thought. She brought a hand up to her face to rub her eyes. They came back wet. When did she start crying?

"I need a cup of coffee. Or a whole pot," Riley sighed. She made her way into the kitchen, stopping when she remembered her parent's bar. "Or…" she grabbed a bottle of her dad's tequila, "something a _little_ bit stronger…"

 _Okay, so the drinking was a bad idea._ Riley had barely managed to do one shot of tequila before promptly spitting it out again. Clearly, she was not the "look for the solution at the bottom of a bottle" type of person. But right now, she really wished she was. She needed to forget. About everything. Especially about that conversation with the social worker that morning.

Normally she would just sleep her problems away, but every time she closed her eyes she saw her parent's lifeless bodies. She could still hear the crunch of the metal. The sound of her own helpless screams. The light. She panicked, like it was happening all over again. The now-familiar sensation of burning came over her. She didn't have to look at herself to know what was happening. She rushed over to the window, drawing the curtains closed so no one could see her human night-light form.

 _Deep breaths, Riley, deep breaths. Everything will be fine. It's okay. You'll figure this out. You ALWAYS figure things out,_ she told herself. The calming thoughts did not have the desired effect.

This time, the light was only in her hands, but it seemed brighter, and it burned more. The harder she tried to suppress it, the more it hurt until she couldn't take it anymore. She was getting dizzy from the pain.

Riley stumbled around, looking for something to make it stop.

Her phone alarm went off, making her yelp in surprise. She reached toward her phone, but instead of grabbing it, a ball of light shot out of her hand and the phone was reduced to a melted pile of crispy wires and broken glass.

"Oh god. Did I do that? Hooooly shit..." She looked down at her hands in horror. Through the blinding whiteness of the light she could see that Blisters were starting to form. They were minor so far, but she didn't know how long they would stay that way.

"I think I'm gonna puke..." She was too far from the bathroom to make it to the toilet in time. She brought herself to her knees and accepted her fate of throwing up on the expensive rug her parents had purchased not even a week ago.

It wasn't vomit that came out. Instead, another orb emerged from her throat in a fit of the post painful coughs Riley had ever experienced. This orb did not immediately dissipate as the other one had. This one was more solid.

The ball bounced around the living room. It left scorch marks everywhere it touched, burned her mom's favorite flowers, and smashed the TV screen before moving on and effectively ruining the whole kitchen (turns out partially glass cupboard doors were a bad idea). It finally stopped and disappeared when it came back and hit Riley in the stomach with all the force it had come out with.

 _It burns... It burns so much. I have to stop this._ And so, she did the only reasonable thing she could think of. She ran into the bathroom and threw herself into the shower, and turned the cold water on at full blast. Never mind that she was still fully clad in her t shirt and sweatpants. She couldn't give less of a shit about that.

The water didn't exactly stop the burning, but it did calm her down. Which stopped the glowing. Which stopped the burning. So, the water did kind of stop the burning. The blisters, her stomach, and her throat still hurt, but at least Riley was finally thinking straight.

 _I should probably look at that file the woman gave me._

Earlier that morning, about an hour after she woke up, she had a "lovely" conversation with a social worker about different paths she could take, now that both her parents were deceased. She was eighteen, so she was legally an adult and free to make her own decisions. One of those decisions, she was told, was whether or not she wanted to track down her birth parents.

She had been confused at first, wondering what the woman meant. She had been told by her parents that her birth parents died a long time ago. Why would her parents lie? Playing it off like she had known all along, Riley was given the file containing her original birth certificate. Names of both birth parents included. She hadn't looked at it yet, and if she was being honest, she had never planned to. But she needed help, and the people on that document were her only hope.

Eventually, she forced herself to get out of the shower. She groaned as she used her burned hands to strip off the wet clothes, throwing them carelessly onto the tiled floor as soon as they were off. She went through the door that led to her bedroom and grabbed some new clothes. She never realized how much she'd been taking a simple pair of jeans and her favorite t shirt for granted until she felt their familiar comfort surround her.

After she got dressed, she began the search for bandages for her hands and stomach, which also suffered a pretty bad burn from the impact with the ball. She found an ace bandage she was able to wrap around her waist, but the only thing left that she could use for her hands were some hello kitty bandaids she bought as a joke. "Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, I guess." She winced, trying not to think about what it will be like when she has to rip them off.

Coming out of the bathroom, she saw all the damage she had done. There was never a house fire, but there might as well have been with all the charred material everywhere. On the walls and carpet were black splotches left by the ball and hand prints left by her. Broken glass was all over the floor. The pot that had the flowers in it was in pieces on the ground, a pile of dirt right by them.

"This is going to take a while to clean up..." She paused for a moment. "ehh, I'll just do it later... First I need to make sure the file isn't...oh thank god you're not damaged!" She picked up the file from the couch and gave it a kiss.

A mix of feelings rolled around inside her. In just a few moments, she would know who her birth parents were. They could help her. They might know why she is the way she is. If they're even alive…

She opened the file. In it were some papers listing medical history, the amended birth certificate, a couple other pages, and finally...her original birth certificate.

Under "Mother" Riley saw the name Stewart, Emma J.. Riley looked at one of the other papers she had seen. It was a death certificate, for one Emma Stewart...There goes her chances of meeting her birth mom.

She turned her attention back to the birth certificate. There was still a chance. Her father could still be alive. Under "Father" was the last name she would have expected: Stark, Anthony E.

Riley dropped the file. What? There was no way she was the daughter of the infamous Tony Stark. Play boy, Billionaire, Known asshole, Iron man. It just wasn't possible.

A quick glance around the room told her that after today, she would have to redefine her definition of possible.

If this was true, then she had a chance. He would have the resources to help her. He has experience working with...unconventional...people. There was a long-awaited glimmer of hope, and she took it for all it was worth.

Riley stood at the bus stop. Her backpack was slung on one shoulder, and her bandaid-covered hands were shoved into her sweatshirt pocket. She went over a checklist in her head:

Extra clothes: check

Money ($117, not including bus fare): check

Photos: check

File: check

The bus came, and she had a harder time getting in it than she had anticipated. _It's a bus, not a car, stupid. You'll be fine,_ she reminded herself. _If you have any chance of meeting Stark, then you have to do this._

"You comin or what!" The bus driver yelled. "I ain't got time for you indecisive folk. If you don't get on, I'm leavin ya here."

"No...I'm getting on," said Riley. She put in the money and took her seat. Now all she had to do was wait for her stop. She was so close, to help, to answers, to everything.

The Stark Tower was much more daunting in person than it had been on TV. Doubts crept into her mind, but she pushed them out, refusing to give up.

At the entrance to the tower was a key pad. There was a button to buzz someone inside, put in a security code, print scanner, eye scanner, the whole nine yards. Riley hadn't expected anything less from Stark. She pressed the button labeled "press to talk"

"Hello welcome to the Stark Tower. Do you have an appointment?" The voice was a British male's.

"Um...no. I need to speak with Tony Stark, it's urgent."

"I'm sorry, without I an appointment I can't -"

"Please, I need to talk to him. I need his help. I'm...I'm his daughter."

A voice came over on the intercom, replacing the oddly mechanic one she heard before. This time, she recognized it as none other than Tony Stark himself. "Come in. 8th floor." There was a buzz, and the door opened.

Riley took a deep breath, and stepped inside. Honestly, she expected meeting him would be a bit more challenging, but tt was finally happening. She was meeting her real father.


	3. Important Information- please read!

**This is an author's note. Please read, as this contains important information.**

This story is still very new, and I will be revising chapters every now and then. Some story elements may change, but they won't be too major. For example, in chapter one, it is written as if Riley never knew she was adopted. This is something I have changed in the revised version, but it is the ONLY change.

SORRY IF IT GETS CONFUSING. I PROMISE NOT TO MAKE IT TOO WEIRD.

ALSO, YOU CAN EXPECT A NEW CHAPTER ON SATURDAY!

One more thing: my birthday is tomorrow, and a review is the perfect present constructive criticism is welcome!

Thank you!

Love,

Paprika-chan


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter two

"There is a visitor at the front door, Sir. Displaying live security feed now." Jarvis announced. Tony, who had been in the basement working on a new suit, reluctantly turned his attention to the screen above his work table. Where there had once been complicated diagrams indicating plans for the new design, there was now the image of a young girl standing impatiently at the entrance to stark tower.

She had long, wavy, brown hair pulled back into a careless ponytail. Her hands were shoved into her sweatshirt pockets in a failed attempt to hide their fidgeting.

"Hm. Who is she?"

"Pulling up information now." Next to the video a list of basic information came up. Along with it were pictures of the girl, and a newspaper article from two days ago.

RILEY MARLOWE

SENIOR AT XXXXXX HIGH SCHOOL

BLAH

BLAH

BLAH

Stark swiped away the picture and other random pieces, blowing up the newspaper article.

HORRIFIC CRASH OFF OF XXXXX ROAD.

" _Last Friday, a vehicle containing, driver Laura Marlowe (47) and passengers David (46) and Riley Marlowe (18) was rammed off the road by a hit and run, the youngest, Riley, is said the be the only survivor..."_ The article continued, but Tony didn't bother to read any further.

"You know what to ask, Jarvis. Audio on" Tony only half listened to the conversation between Riley and Jarvis, but something the girl said caught his attention.

"Please...I need to talk to him. I'm...I'm his daughter..."

Tony set down the glove prototype he was working on, and stared hard at the screen. "Any signs of lying, Jarvis?"

"I scanned her for the usual, sir. No lying detected."

 _Pepper is going to kill me._

He pressed a button, allowing him to talk through the intercom system. "Come in. 8th floor." Another press of a button, and he was talking to Pepper, who was in their bedroom at the moment, getting ready to go to sleep. "Uh, Pepper, can you meet me on the 8th floor?"

"Tony? Why do you sound so scared? You're not going to try to test out your suit in the middle of our living room again, are you? Because I swear to god, Tony..."

"No, no...nothing like that. It won't be ready for testing for at least a couple hours. Actually, I have a guest. Apparently, I have a long lost daughter. At least that's what she said."

"A long lost daughter? And you believe her?"

"You sound surprised. Why do you sound surprised? You doubt that I could have a secret love child? For all we know, I have at least one kid in every country." He stepped into the elevator to take him up to the floor where everyone would meet. The system allowed him to keep talking while he moved about the building. "I can hear your eyes rolling."

"You still haven't answered my question. Do you believe her? Do you even know anything about her?"

"I did some research, so stop worrying. One mother was enough for me. And no, I don't believe her. Not yet, anyway."

Riley had never been in a building where she had so much potential to destroy millions of dollars worth of decorations. Just standing there made her nervous. Her friends always made fun of her for her clumsy tendencies, and in a place like this, she felt like just blinking could shatter the glass windows. After what happened at her own house, she no longer doubted that she could actually do that.

When the elevator door opened, she was greeting by a young woman. On the couch sat Tony Stark. _Holy crap, it's Pepper Pots... And Iron Man..._ Pepper smiled at Riley, who tried to return the favor, but was afraid it looked more homicidal than friendly.

"Welcome! You must be Riley. Chip?" Tony held out a bag of chips to Riley. She stared at it, not knowing what to do. Should she take one, just to be polite? But she didn't want them to see the band aids yet... Stark seemed to get the clue, and withdrew the bag. "Now Riley, you said something _very_ interesting, and I would _love_ to hear why in the WORLD, you think you're my daughter." He reached into the bag for another chip. When he came back empty-handed, he looked into the bag, frowned, and tossed it aside.

Without saying anything, she handed the file to Tony. He opened it and took out the original birth certificate. "Oh. What do you think, Pepper? Forged?"

"It's not forged! I'll do a DNA test or whatever you want. Even if you don't believe me, I still need your help. Something's wrong with me...I can do these...things but they hurt and they break things and I don't know what to do...I would asked my parents...but they're gone. And I pretty much destroyed my house so I'm _really_ not looking forward to going back anytime soon." Riley looked at Stark, her view now blurred by the tears. "Please, there must be something you can do."

"Sorry kid, not buyin it. Impressive forgery though." He gave the file back to her.

"Tony," Pepper took Tony aside for a second and whispered something to him. He opened his mouth to say something back, but quickly closing it after he received the trademark "thou-shalt-not-disobey-me" look from his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, Riley, was it? Can you excuse us?" Riley nodded, and the two others went into an adjacent room.

"Don't you think you're being a little harsh?" Pepper asked, as soon as they were out of earshot of the girl.

"Hold on, three minutes ago _you_ were the suspicious one."

"She just a kid, Tony. I looked in her eyes. There was genuine pain there."

"And how would you know what genuine pain looks like?"

Pepper put a hand on Tony's shoulder, and took a step closer. "Because I see it in you all the time. She's hurt, and she came to you for help. I know you're not the hero type, but you've saved hundreds of lives, if not more. What's one more to you?"

"So what am I supposed to do? Just give her money? You know I don't like sharing. She's probably not even mine."

"She already said she would do a DNA test. We get her to do that, and then decide what next after the results are back."

"Stop using logic, I Don't like it when you do that," Tony scowled. "And what about that thing she mentioned? The thing that's wrong with her? What do you think she meant by that?"

"Why are you resisting the idea so much? What happened to the idiotic, compulsive, Tony Stark I know and love?"

"He went on break as soon as your safety came into question. You're talking to Iron Man right now." Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Just let her stay here tonight. Have her give up a sample of DNA, and then we can figure everything out in the morning. It's too late at night to worry about this right now. And you're forgetting Bruce lives here too. I doubt that girl is any match for the Hulk and Iron Man combined."

"Fine."

"We're back, you can stay, spit." Stark shoved a cup in her face. "For the DNA test."

"Really?" Riley almost passed out from the relief, and gladly spit into the cup. "So you'll help me?"

"For now. But first you look like you need some sleep," Pepper said. Riley was thankful for the thought, but doubted she would sleep any time soon. "I'll take you to the guest room."

"Thank you, so much. Both of you. I just...thank you." For once, the tears Riley was shedding were out of relief, not pain. Tomorrow, she could start getting the help she needed. She would show them what was wrong with her, and then Mr. Stark could fix her. Yes, everything was going to be just fine.

 **Important author's note: This is the edited version, but I may have missed some spelling, so sorry about that. Please let me know what you think in the reviews! Without feedback, I don't know what I am doing wrong, and what I am doing right, and it is impossible to grow as a writer. Also, I am on the fence about something. Should I try to add romance between Riley and any of the avengers, or possibly a non-avenger oc? Keep in mind, she is only eighteen. The only really possible couples would be Riley and Steve Rogers, and Riley and Thor, if even that. Captain America is like 27, and Thor is at least a thousand years or so? Who knows. Anyway, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter Four

"Here it is," Pepper motioned to the door right in front of her and Riley.

"Thanks...I guess I'll see you in the morning then?" Riley knew she was awkward, but it was the best she could come up with.

"I guess so," replied Pepper, before leaving to go back to her own room.

The guest room was nice, to say the least. On each side of the queen sized bed was a bedside table, with a lamp on each one. A large flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall opposite the bed. The bed was outfitted with a fluffy, blue comforter and matching pillowcases.

"What, no chocolates on the pillow?" Riley muttered. She threw her backpack on the ground and plopped down on the bed and spread out as much as possible.

"I'm afraid not." Riley couldn't tell where the voice came from. She sat up suddenly, immediately regretting the quick movement, trying to ignore the searing pain now coming from the burn on her stomach. There was no one else in the room, and she was even more confused.

"You...you're the voice from the door?"

"My name is Jarvis. I am an AI, created by Mr. Stark"

"Oh, okay...Wait, if you're a computer, why are you British?"

"One of Mr. Starks personal preferences."

"Huh, okay then."

"Shall I turn off the lights so you can sleep? Perhaps you would like to watch a movie. I have a particularly large selection to choose from." As if to show off, the TV was turned on and a list of recent blockbusters were shown.

"No, just...turn everything off. It's been a long day."

"Of course. Goodnight, Ms. Marlowe." The lights went out, leaving Riley all alone in the dark. She closed her eyes, and soon fell asleep.

 _Riley was in the car again, on her way to her graduation. Her mom was driving, as always, and her dad was in the passenger's seat fiddling with the radio. "Are you excited for your graduation, sweetie?" Her mom asked._

" _I guess. I'm glad you guys could make it, but it'll probably be super boring."_

 _Her dad turned around in his seat and looked at her. His head seemed to turn all the way around, to the point where it was now backwards. Riley didn't think anything of it. "Oh, honey. We can't be there. We aren't here anymore,"_

 _RIley was puzzled. "What do you mean? You're right here." She blinked, and then they were all upside down, back in the ditch. It was dark now, and every surface in the car was stained red. Her mom was dangling in her seat, and her dad was a crumpled up mass. His head was still facing her. "We're dead, Riley. Don't you understand?" But she didn't. How could they be dead.?_

" _You didn't save us, Riley. And now we're dead." Her mom added._

" _But...no..you can't be…" The car began to close in on her. The metal was being crushed together, until it was so tight she couldn't breath anymore. Her parent's had stopped talking, and although they were still in the car with her, Riley felt completely alone._

 _She was suffocating. Drowning in blood and tears. There was nothing she could do to stop it. The metal got tighter around her throat. She cried out to her mom, who responded by snapping her head up. She reached out to Riley with a mangled hand._

" _Why didn't you save meeeee?" Her mom's nails dug into her skin as she dragged them along her face, leaving scratches that traveled from her temple to her chin._

" _Stop. Stop! It hurts! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry...please...please" No matter how much she begged, her mom didn't stop. It felt like she was being scratched for hours. She couldn't escape._

 _Then came the light. It leaked out of Riley's body, tangling itself around her mom. It left charred skin wherever it touched. Her mom shrieked, and recoiled in terror. "You're a monster!"_

" _No, you don't understand, I'm not-" Before she could finish, the light exploded around her, destroying everything._

RIley jolted awake. She looked around, disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings. Her stomach churned, threatening to send up the contents of the little food she'd eaten that day. She ran to the bathroom, and hovered over the toilet.

Riley had never liked puking. Now was no different. It was messy, and always leaves a terrible taste. Luckily for her, the guest bedroom came with a complimentary toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, and mouthwash. She spit out the mouthwash and took a long gaze at her reflection in the mirror.

Her cheeks were covered in scratches, most likely self inflicted in reaction to the dream. Only a couple of the long ones were bloody, but they all stung like hell.

"It appears you are having trouble sleeping." Said Jarvis, helpful as usual.

"No shit, Sherlock. Maybe this whole sleeping thing just isn't for me. What time is it?" She want back into the bedroom and sat on the bed, drawing her knees in close to her chest. She pulled the file out of her backpack, looking over once more.

"It is 2:42 A.M."

"Jarvis, can you show me information? Like, files on people and stuff?"

"I have access to almost all electronic information."

"Show me everything you have on Laura and David Marlowe."

"Gathering information now. It appears the history of Laura and David Marlowe only goes back 18 years. Before that, there is no record of them ever existing. I have also found a recent news article detailing the accident that led to their deaths."

"What do you mean?"

"I have found birth certificates for both individuals, however, it appears the actual Laura and David Marlowe died in a house fire in 1964. Stealing the identities of deceased individuals is a common practice when one wants to hide their real identity."

"So, my parents stole the identities of dead people?"

"Yes, so it seems."

"You're wrong. You have to be wrong."

"I'm afraid that is highly improbable."

"What about where they work? My mom is a doctor at Rockland County Hospital. My dad is a researcher in the same place."

"After a quick search, I have found that the Rockland County Hospital was shut down 25 years ago."

That was wrong. All of it. Her parents weren't identity thieves, and they weren't liars. There must be some explanation for all of this.

"Turn it off. I'm going to get some coffee."

Riley made her way into the kitchen. There was one of those instant coffee makers, but it looked way nicer than anything she'd seen in the store. She took a mug and placed it on the little cup-platform-thingy.

"How does this work? There aren't any buttons. What the hell kind of coffee machine doesn't have buttons?"

"Simply tell it what you would like to drink."

"You just saved the life of an innocent coffee machine. You should be very proud of yourself Jarvis. I would give you a gold star, but I don't actually have one."

"It's the thought that counts." It was easy to forget Jarvis was an AI. He was very easy to talk to.

"Okay, here we go. I'd like a latte, maybe?" In under a minute, Riley was holding the most beautiful latte she had ever seen. Granted, it was probably only beautiful because it was almost 3 A.M., and any distraction from what she had just learned about her parents was breathtakingly gorgeous.

Riley went back to the guest room, but changed her mind and sat on a chair in the living room area. She wasn't sure what to call it, because regular room labels didn't seem to apply here.

Five cups of coffee later, and it was still only about 5 in the morning. Riley hadn't done much sleeping, or anything else really. She had mostly just sat in that chair, and denied everything about her life. Maybe, if she curled up enough, she could stop existing and everything would be all better.

 _Stop existing...you mean, like your parents?_

"Shut up brain, no one asked you." She took another sip of her coffee, only to find that there was nothing left to take sip of. "Welp, time for another cup, I guess." While the machine poured the liquid into her mug, someone said from behind Riley,

"You didn't come here just to steal my coffee, did you?" It was Stark.

"Looks like you caught me! I faked my parent's death and forged a birth certificate JUSt so I could have some of this glorious _,_ gourmet, _instant_ coffee!" When Riley was tired, which she most definitely was, her use of sarcasm tended to go up exponentially.

"That's what I thought. Oh, and you have a little something on your face." He motioned over his entire face with his finger.

"You mean this?" Riley pointed to one of the scratches. "I noticed, thanks."

Tony pressed something on the coffee machine, and soon he had his very own cup of coffee. So there _were_ buttons.

"So, why are _you_ up at 5 am?" Riley questioned.

"If you must know, I've been analyzing DNA."

"You know how to analyze DNA?"

"The machine I built does."

Riley was almost afraid to ask, but she knew she had to, "and what were the results."

"The results…" He paused for dramatic effect, "were that I should have paid better attention to using protection 18 years ago."

 **A/N: Sorry this chapter is so freaking long. I honestly did not intend to do that. I wasn't planning on posting this chapter until next weekend, but because it doesn't have as much plot as I would have liked, I decided to just go ahead and post it.**

 **Also, about potential romantic partners for Riley, I need your guys' help deciding between these three people: Pietro, Steve Rogers, and Spiderman (the original movies, NOT the amazing spiderman ones). Once again, don't forget to let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter Five

**Please read the author's note at the end of this chapter when you are done reading. Thank you.**

Riley had already been sure of the truth, but having it confirmed made her ecstatic none the less. Plans were already buzzing around in her head. Should she tell him about the light now, or wait until he's become more accustomed to the idea of having a daughter? He did seem a little shocked...but it was more than that. Something else was wrong.

"Riley," Tony set his mug down, slowly, on the counter next to him.

"Hm?" After a night of nightmares scratching yourself, and finding out your parents were hiding something from you your entire life, knowing that someone believes you must be some cause for celebration. and there most certainly was a celebration going on in her head. But that may have been mostly due to being delirious from lack of sleep and over caffeination. Tony, on the other hand, had on an uncharacteristically intense expression.

"Riley," he repeated. "You're glowing."

Shit. She has almost forgotten why she had come here in the first place. Now she had no _choice_ but to tell him right away. "Right, about that...that's kinda why I came here. You see, sometimes it's just harmless glowing, like right now, and other times there are these orbs, and they fly around, and destroy things, and burn stuff, and I can't control it." She waved her hand around to demonstrate the orb's actions. Tony grabbed it, and began to study it.

"Did one of the orbs burn your hands?" He drew his thumb over one of the Hello Kitty band-aids.

Riley nodded, "Kinda. The light was mostly concentrated in my hands, and they began to blister."

"Hm. Your skin is warm, but not abnormally so." He looked her dead in the eyes. "You're not an alien, are you?" She knew he was joking, but part of him sounded genuinely concerned

she shrugged. "You're my dad, you tell me. Ever sleep with an alien?"

He shrugged in the same way, "Probably." He inspected her hand for about another minute before dropping it., "Right, well, I can't help you. Sorry kid."

Wait.

What?

"Also," he picked his mug back up and took a long sip, "you have six months to live. I suggest taking this time to have some fun, live a little. Travel the world, pick up a new hobby, do some drugs, maybe sleep around a bit. You know, normal bucket list stuff." Another sip.

"You're joking, right?" You better be fucking joking." Riley wasn't just pissed, she was furious. She couldn't even explain why. If he didn't have the ability to help her, then she couldn't blame him. But there was no way he would give up this easy. Nope. Not _him._ He was the master of having tricks up his sleeves. He literally built sleeves with tricks in them.

"I'm telling the truth. Don't worry about it though, and I won't charge you for using my guest room. If you used the toothbrush and the toothpaste though, that's a $15 fee."

Was he _trying_ to piss her off? Riley clenched her teeth, ignoring the burning that had started up again. "Wow, really? I don't believe this...I don't fucking believe this. You were my last chance! You were all I had left! You're even more of an asshole than the media makes you out to be." She attempted to storm off, but she collapsed on the floor before she even made it out from behind the counter. An orb came out of her hand when she tried to catch her fall. It flew towards Tony, who simply took a jar a trapped it inside.

Tony's face hadn't changed the entire time. He was still taking small sips of his drink, staring at her as if she were a suit he was trying to fix. He looked at her face and her hands and the jar like he was trying to memorize the placement of every cell. This was the side of him that almost no one got to see. The only exception being Pepper.

"You're right," he finally said, staring at the orb, "I was lying."

 _Damn_ she wanted to slap him.

"You were?"

Tony lifted his shoulders up a bit and slightly tilted his head. "Mostly. You're not going to die in six months. Not unless you get in some freak accident."

"Been there, done that, didn't work."

"But," Uh-oh. That's never a good sign. "I still can't help you. I know someone that can though. As long as you don't piss him off. You'll regret it,. Trust me." He shivered while warning her. Something told Riley that was a lesson he learned from experience.

The lab was a few stories down from the apartment Tony shared with Pepper. In the elevator, Tony had explained what was on each floor in elaborate detail, proudly describing how each piece of technology in each room was amazingly brilliant and completely his own idea. He told her how Jarvis was in each room, and could hear you no matter where you went. In Riley's opinion, that made Jarvis creepier instead of helpful, but she kept that opinion to herself.

The lab was clean, like a lab should be, except for papers strewn all over every available surface. There were more screens than Riley could count, and each one had data that she couldn't even pretend to understand. And that's saying something. For the smartest person in her physics class, she felt pretty damn stupid.

"Hey big guy, wake up. I have a job for you," Tony threw a blackberry from a small bowl he had brought with them at a pile of papers. The papers grunted, and Riley realized there was a sleeping man under them. Tony shoved the papers off from on top of the man, and threw another blackberry at him And another. And another. Finally, he gave an exasperated sigh, licked his finger, and stuck it in the man's ear.

The man jolted up, clearly unhappy about being woken up by a wet willie. The scowl deepened when he saw Tony. With his glasses crooked, and his hair messed up, it took Riley a moment before she recognized who the man was. Sitting before her was Bruce Banner, one of the famed Avengers. That day in New York had made celebrities of them all, and he was no exception. If she met any more of them today, she was sure she would fan-girl to death.

Tony slammed the jar down in front of Bruce. He picked it up, fixing his glasses. He looked back at Tony. "What is it?"

"A ball of light. Probably. _This_ one" he nodded his head towards Riley, "tried to kill me with it."

"I did not!" Sure, she had been pissed at him, and maybe there were a _few_ homicidal thoughts, but she would never intentionally hurt someone.

Tony mouthed the words "she did"

"I saw that, you know." She glared at him. He responded by simply eating a blackberry and avoiding her gaze.

"Who is she, exactly?" Bruce asked.

Tony dropped his playful attitude, "This is Riley, my recently discovered long-lost daughter."

Bruce smiled slightly, but stopped when he realized Tony was being serious. "And you're sure about this?"

Tony nodded. "DNA test and everything."

"Oh, well, then congratulations I guess." Then he turned to Riley, "and I'm sorry."

There wasn't much conversation after that. Tony explained what happened in the kitchen, and then Riley was forced to tell pretty much her entire life story. And the only thing Bruce did was take another sample of DNA. Well, three to be exact. He took a few pieces of her hair, more saliva, and some blood. He also kept the ball to examine.

The testing of the samples would take a while, so they were told. While they were waiting, Tony and Riley had gone down to his workshop. She had been told not to follow him down, but she blatantly ignored his request and followed him anyway.

Tony had gone straight to work on the helmet of his latest model. He kept putting it on, swearing, adjusting something, and then repeating the process over and over again. Riley kept herself busy by playing with all the other parts he had laying about. She was fascinated by all of it.

"what does this do?" She pick up on of the glove pieces and put her arm in. It began to expand until it covered all the way up to her shoulder. A circle in the palm of her hand lit up, and some strange sound was coming out of it.

Tony spun around in alarm when her heard it. He began to yell at her to take it off, but before he could finish, she had blasted the desk in front of her to pieces.

"Oops…" She took off the arm, set it down gingerly, and took a step back. "My bad."

She had expected Tony to be mad at her, but he more confused than anything else. "that shouldn't have happened." He picked up the glove and started to take it apart.

"What do you mean?"

He held the glove out so she could see inside a tiny compartment he had just opened. "You see this? This is where the power source goes. This glove is designed to be able to function separately from the rest of the suit and take the energy from its own power source, and amplify it into an energy blast. No power source, no blast. Now, what do you notice?"

"It's empty?"

"Exactly. Riley, there was no power source. The energy had to have come from you."

Jarvis interrupted anything else Tony might have said. "Mr. Banner would like you to come back to his lab. He's found something."

"Now, before I tell you two what I found, you need to know this isn't exactly my area of expertise. I am sure of my results though, and I think you'll find them rather...interesting."

Tony gave a dramatic yawn. Banner took the hint, and just told them what he found before explaining it.

"It appears Riley is a mutant."

 **Author's Note, please read (as always):**

 **This is the unedited version of this chapter. Normally, I would try to take the time to edit the chapter before post it, but I think you guys have waited long enough. I'll probably edit later this week. Which reminds me…**

 **SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. i'M NOT TRYING TO BE A TERRIBLE PERSON. BUT SCHOOL GOT IN THE WAY, AND I HAD VERY LITTLE TIME TO WORK ON THIS CHAPTER. LUCKILY, I'M FEELIN PRETTY INSPIRED LATELY, SO I DON'T THINK YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT LONG FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER.**

 **Also, in regards to the Steve vs. Pietro debate, I've made my decision. i'm going to do both. Yes, that means a love triangle. No, that does not mean an ANGSTY love triangle. I don't know who she will end up with in the end, which is mainly why I'm doing it this way. Pietro won't be in the story for at least a few chapters though (sorry), but that means you guys can look forward to seeing some Steve moments in the upcoming chapters!**

 **Don't be afraid to let me know what you think! I love to hear from you guys, and it really helps me feel inspired to keep writing.**

 **Love you all! Thanks for reading!**

 **P.S. - I know mutants and the Avengers are separate in the movies, but that's only because of copyrights, soooo I'm ignoring it. I will not have the X-men in my story.**


	7. Chapter Six

It's funny how much your life can change with one simple sentence. One second, you're minding your own business, and then BAM! The words hit you right in the face, pick you up by your feet, and dunk your head underwater until you can't breathe. Multiple time. A few days ago, that sentence was "they didn't make it," and today it's "you're a mutant." While it wasn't actually humorous, it certainly was _very_ funny.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Banner seemed taken aback.. Riley couldn't see why. She was technically a Stark after all.

"Normally," Dr. Banner began, " it doesn't mean much. Mutations happen all the time, and almost all of them are benign and unnoticeable. That does not seem to apply in your case. As far as I can tell, your mutation is the cause of your newfound abilities. So far, they appear to be limited to manipulating and generating photons. I've heard of other cases where people gain abilities due to genetic mutations, but this is the first time I've seen it in person. It's fascinating, really."

Riley looked at her father for some sort of reassurance. Some hint that this guy wasn't full of shit and pulling some cruel prank on her by making her believe she was some sort of mutant freak. He was too busy counting how many blackberries he had left to notice her. She frowned and turned back to Dr. Banner.

"Why hasn't any of this happened before? I was born with this, right? I think puking up shiny balls of destruction is something I would have noticed."

"I believe it was triggered due to the release of adrenaline during the crash. When your body realized it was in danger, it chose fight over flight. And it seems as though it's been in that state ever since. Your body is in a constant state of alert, and if you don't find a way to calm down, you're going to end up burning yourself up." Banner paused for a moment to adjust his glasses before looking into Riley's eyes, "and I'm afraid I mean that literally."

"Oh," was all Riley could say in reply.

"You need to learn how to control your abilities before you end up hurting yourself, and everyone else."

"Yeah? Well how the hell and I supposed to do that?"

Tony grinned, momentarily forgetting his blackberry counting project, "you train."

3 minutes in, and Riley was already regretting agreeing to let Tony help her train. After their little chat with Dr. Banner, Tony had wasted no time in dragging her back down to his workshop, suiting up, and yelling at her "Come at me!"

And so here they stood. Tony, with arms open wide, demanding to be hit with as many balls of light as Riley could produce, Riley clueless as to how to produce said balls without being in mortal danger or incredibly pissed.

"Sir," Jarvis interrupted, "Ms. Potts would like me to remind you of the guests coming over tonight at 6:00. She would also like to remind you of what would happen if you were late again."

If he weren't wearing the suit, Riley would have been able to see how pale Tony turned at the anything-but-subtle threat. He barely glanced at the screen before turning his attention back to Riley. He held up one of his gloved fingers, "Give me a moment, I'm attempting to get my long lost daughter to attack me. You know, I think I'm close. she's been giving me the evil eyes for the last 2 minutes. Any time now."

Riley rolled her eyes, "I already told you, I don't know how to make it happen, it just...does."

"Here's an idea! Think about something that _really_ pisses you off."

"What do you think of?"

"Well, Steve Rogers seems to do the trick for me. His face is just _so..._ punchable. Really. I have to contain myself around him."

Riley grinned, "Oh! You mean, like you? Because, now that I think about it, your face does seem to have that effect on me."

"Very funny. Now hit me with your best shot!"

Riley closed her eyes, and thought about everything she's had to deal with lately. Every little pent up emotion she's had to shove so deep down, you wouldn't be able to find it if you dug to China. To her surprise, she wasn't angry, or hurt, or desperate. She was fine. Just fine. She opened her eyes again, and saw a little ball of light hovering right in front of her. She expected to feel the same burning as she had all the other times, but this time it was just a slight tingle. She could hardly tell it was there.

With almost no effort on Riley's part, the ball zoomed across the room and hit Tony square in the chest. She thought she heard a muffled "oof," but he had barely moved an inch. She made another ball appear, and it too slammed into Tony.

Before she knew it, she was throwing the balls of light like baseballs, getting more and more excited each time one of them hit its target. Each impact made Tony slide further and further away with the force, although now Riley had figured out how to lower the density of the balls so they wouldn't cause as much pain, even if Tony wasn't in Iron Man mode. She had made it into her own little game. Tony seemed less thrilled about the idea than she was. At first, he had just stood there, letting her hit him, but now he was actively dodging the balls.

"BAM! She hits him right in the NUTS! The crowd goes wild! How many points is that, Jarvis? How many?" Riley jumped up and down where she stood, already prepared with another ball in her hand to throw.

"Plus 100 points for the groin for a total of 2, 900."

"Alright! How about we go for another nut-shot and make it an even 3,000?"

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Jarvis agreed.

"No, no, no it does NOT sound like an excellent idea. I vote we call it a day, and go upstairs."

"Come on, pleeeeaaasssseeeee? It's not like you can even feel anything through the suit!" Riley pleaded. She finally felt like she was in control of something, and she never wanted it to stop. Tony, on the other hand, was already half way done taking off the suit.

"I said no," Tony repeated, as the last of his suit flew off him and returned to where he kept it. Riley frowned, looked at the ball, looked at Tony, then back at the ball. Then, she did something she never would have done before. She threw the ball anyway, and took off towards the elevator laughing hysterically, putting Tony's groans of pain behind her as the doors shut.

When the doors opened to reveal the apartment, Riley was greeted by the victim of her little stunt. "How did you-"

Tony scoffed, "Please, I have more than one elevator."

"You have more than one elevator?"

He looked at her like she had just asked if the sky is blue. "I'm Tony Stark, how could I NOT have more than one elevator?"

"Good point."

"Tony! Are you ready?" Pepper's voice came over the intercom. "The guests are here."

"I would hardly call them guests. And already? I thought they weren't coming until 6:00." Tony talked, as he went into his room for a second and came back out with a new shirt.

Pepper sighed, "It's 6:45, Tony…"

"Shit. Okay, Riley, come on, there's some people you need to meet."

"Wait, what? Right now? But I'm so sweaty! And I don't have any makeup on! And I don't even know who these people are. What if they hate me? What if they think I never shower? What if I panic and shower everyone with the shiny balls of pain? Oh god. I'm doomed."

"Trust me, they can handle it. A little girl is no match for the Avengers."

Riley's stomach did a flip. Did he just say she was going to meet the Avengers? Her? Now? It was like a dream come true. The fan girl inside of her passed out with excitement. The real Riley was desperatly not to do the same.

"Did I mention I haven't showered yet?"

 **THIS IS THE UNEDITED VERSION. I MAY OR MAY NOT EDIT IT LATER. THANKS FOR READING, AND DON'T FORGET TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IN THE REVIEWS!**


	8. Chapter Seven

Tony led Riley through the apartment to a lounge area she hadn't even known existed. As they walked, she attempted to put her hair into a pony tail about five times. Each time she thought she had a satisfactory ponytail, a curl popped out of place and rubbed in the fact that her hair will never do what she wants it too, especially when it matters. And when she's about to meet the Avengers, everything matters.

Riley finally settled with shoving her hair into what might pass as a messy bun, and once again begged Tony to let her take a shower before she went to meet everybody. "Please please _please_?"

"No no no. We're already late, and after last time..." Tony shuddered, "just, no. We can't be any later than we already are."

"Ugh, fine. But you owe me." Riley stopped walking for a moment to check out her reflection in a mirror in the hallway, while Tony continued speed walking toward the lounge. When she decided she at least didn't look like a serial killer that came back from chasing their latest victim, she sped up to catch up with her dad. "So, who's gonna be there?"

"Let's see, um, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Bruce, and, oh! my glorious self. Pepper was going to come, but she had to go into work, and Thor's off doing something some place" Tony waved his hand around above his head "up there."

"Oh, ok." The closer they got to the room where everyone was waiting, the more Riley felt like she was going to throw up. Luckily, after the whole ball of light thing, she'd practiced holding back anything that felt like it was going to come out of the wrong end. She twirled one of the disobedient curls around her finger, "Do they, um, know about me?"

They came to a door, and Tony opened it. "They will in about one second. Hey everyone, this is my long-lost daughter, long-lost daughter, this is everyone." He made a dramatic gesture toward the people in the room. Bruce didn't look surprised at all (probably because he already knew), but everyone else sure did. Natasha's face didn't change at all, she just continued taking a sip of whatever she was drinking, Clint's eyebrows were halfway up his forehead, and Steve just stood by the bar, unable to move.

"Hi, I'm sweaty!" Riley burst out. All the staring was making her nervous. She could feel her face turning redder by the minute, and if she hadn't been glowing before she walked in the room, she was now. "I mean Riley, Hi I'm Riley. Oh god somebody kill me now." This was not exactly the first impression she wanted to make.

Natasha was the first to speak. "So, are you going to _explain?_ " she asked Tony.

He took a bottle out of Steve's hand, who still hadn't moved, and poured himself a drink. "Nope, I'm good." He took a sip and held up the bottle, "anybody need a refill?"

"No, but I wouldn't mind one of those explanation things Natasha mentioned," Steve said.

Tony gave Steve a hard pat on the shoulder, "sorry, all out of those.' He sat down next to Clint, leaving Riley still standing by the door, praying she would drop dead any moment if only people would stop staring at her. They didn't.

"Okay, well," Riley took a deep breath and began, "long story short, Car crash, adoptive parents dead, I start glowing, I freak out, I glow more, adoption file says he's my dad, more freak-outing and glowing, and a little bit of house destroying, I come here for help, and, well, here I am. I still do that glowing thing, but I'm getting a lot better at it!" She gave the group a thumbs up a nervous smile.

To her surprise, nobody laughed at her, or said she was lying and told her to get the hell out. Instead, Natasha smiled and patted the seat next to her. Riley sat down, feeling a bit better. Bruce explained what he knew about Riley's ability so far, and told everyone about the DNA test that confirmed Riley was who she said she was.

Clint nodded along with the explanation, "Well, that explains the glowing."

Natasha lean in a little closer to Riley, "So Stark's your dad, huh?" Riley nodded. Natasha put her arm around her, "I'm so sorry."

Riley grinned. "Well, it's not all bad. He has pretty great coffee here, and I got to hit him in the balls with solid light, so that was fun."

Steve finally finished making his own drink, and sat on the other side of her. "Now _that_ I would like to see."

"Okay! Hey Jarvis, can you pull up the video of me training with Tony? Specifically, the last few minutes."

"Of course, Miss Marlowe." Riley's smile faltered for a second when she heard her name, remembering where her parent's had stolen it from, but she pushed the bad thoughts away so she could enjoy the moment.

"No, Jarvis, don't! Bad, bad Jarvis!" Tony protested, making everyone giggle a little.

"As you wish, Sir."

"Thank you."

A few hours passed, and everyone but Riley and Steve was pretty drunk. She had thought they were going to kick her out a while ago so they could talk about Avenger-y stuff, but they never did. Apparently, tonight was a social gathering, not a work meeting.

Natasha and Tony were arm wrestling (Tony was losing rather unhappily), and Clint and Bruce were discussing the latest designs for arrows. That left Steve and Riley sitting on the couch.

They had been talking for hours, about any little thing they could think of. Riley asked all the cliche questions about his experience waking up from his 70 year nap, and he asked her all the cliche questions about realizing her birth father was a billionaire. Of course, there weren't any cliche questions about that yet, but he had no trouble coming up with some.

"So, you're Captain America…" Riley wished she could think of something else to say, something cool or interesting, but she couldn't. They'd been talking for what seemed like forever, and she was still only capable of saying something lame.

Steve smiled, seemingly understanding how she felt. "Yep, the one and only. And you're Riley Marlowe."

"Ha, yeah, I guess.'

He raised an eyebrow. "You guess?"

"Well, I'm Riley, that's for sure. But I don't know about the Marlowe part anymore."

"Why not?"

Riley debated whether or not she should tell him what she found in her research, and decided that if anyone knew about stolen identities, it would be an Avenger.

"Come with me."

Riley led Steve into another guest room down the hall, so they could be somewhere a little more private. It was smaller than the one she was staying in, and the lights were slightly dimmed. On the wall opposite them was a TV exactly like the one in her room. She was still unsure if this was a good idea, but it was a little too late now.

"Okay, before I show you, I need you to promise not to tell Tony. At least not until I figure out what it all means."

Steve looked a bit puzzled, but agreed, "okay, I won't."

Riley took a few steps toward him, and stopped when she was about half a foot away. She looked up at him, into his eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise."

She sighed, and took a step back. "Okay, great. Jarvis, can you pull up the information about Laura and David Marlowe again? The death certificates." In response, the TV began displaying all the information that came up last night.

"Why are you showing me this?" Steve's voice had lowered to almost a whisper. Normally, Riley would be swooning at the thought of being in a room alone with Captain America, but that would have to wait.

Riley ignored the question, and started explaining what she was about to show him. "These are the death certificates of Laura and David Marlowe."

"Your parents?"

"You would think, but no." She laughed, but there was no amusement anymore. Just bitterness. "I _thought_ they were my parents, but _apparently_ they died in 1964. The people that raised me took their names and pretended to work at a fake hospital for 18 years. I didn't know what to do when I found out last night. I didn't even open the file." Steve didn't say anything, so she just continued. "Maybe you can help me make sense of it, maybe you can't, I don't know. I just…" She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I think I'll freak out less when I open it if I know you're here."

"Alright, here goes. Jarvis, can you open up the file on the real Marlowes? and the abandoned hospital?"

The two only caught a glimpse of the file before an image took over the screen. It was a red skull with six tentacles. Across the screen the words FILE SELF DESTRUCT ACTIVATED, SYSTEM REBOOTING scrolled by repeatedly. The same phrase was said by Jarvis over and over again, until finally the screen went black.

"What the hell was that?" Riley asked. She looked up at Steve.

His jaw was clenched, and his hands had formed into fists. "That," he said through his teeth, "was Hydra."

 **A/N- YAY! Another chapter! Okay, so I'm still trying to get used to writing with the personalities of all the characters, so forgive me if some of them are a bit out of character. it'll get better, I promise! Also, I'm updating the story as soon as I have chapters written, so sometimes you'll get a new chapter right away, and other times it'll take a bit longer. So, sorry about that. I'm trying to stay consistent, but we'll see how that goes.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think about this chapter! Once again, it's unedited, so sorry about any spelling or grammar mistakes. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear them!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Love,**

 **Paprika-chan**


	9. Chapter Eight

Riley was confused, to say the least. Everyone was going on and on about Hydra this and Hydra, but no one bothered to explain any of it to her.

As soon as the screen had gone blank, Tony and the other Avengers had stormed into the room. Well, Tony did the storming. The other three just walked in. Steve and Riley had explained what happened, and after that, Riley was no longer part of the conversation.

A small beep turned everyone's attention back to the TV. Jarvis had come back, and it was as if nothing had even happened. Tony was visibly relieved. "Jarvis, you okay?"

"Everything appears to be in order, Sir. May I ask for the cause of concern?"

"Nevermind about that. Can you pull up the files you had opened before the reboot? The death certificates of Laura and David Marlowe from 1964." Tony was all serious now. It was still strange to Riley to see him like this. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyebrows pulled close together in thought.

"I'm afraid no such files exist," Jarvis replied.

Tony brought up one of his hands and ran it down his face. "That's what I was afraid of. Hydra deleted everything."

Riley felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Natasha. "Riley, this is very important. Do you know _anything_ about Hydra? Anything about your parents' true identities that might help us?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't know." She was playing with her hair again, but now it was out of frustration. "Here's an idea, _Maybe_ it'd help if someone explained

what Hydra is."

"No." Tony said. "I am _not_ putting you in the middle of this. You don't need to know who Hydra is, because after this I'm going to take of it, and you can just go on with your life and forget all about this."

"Excuse me? I must have misunderstood you. For a second it sounded like you said I should just forget all about this. Ha! Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Whether you like it or not, I'm ALREADY in the middle of this! Clearly, my parents had something to do with whatever this Hydra thing is, and my birth father is an Avenger. If that's not what you call "in the middle of this" then you need to go read a dictionary." Riley crossed her arms and stood in front of her father, daring him with her eyes to say no to her again. He took up the same stance and glared at her just as hard.

"She's right, Tony." Clint said. "If her parents were Hydra, then Hydra already knows who she is. They might even know what she can do. At this point, it's more dangerous for her not to know. This way, we can train her. Make sure she's prepared."

Tony gave in, and explained what Hydra is to Riley, though it was clear he wasn't happy about it. Off to the side, Natasha was whispering to Steve, "who knew he had a Dad mode? It's kind of...scary." Steve glanced at Tony, then nodded in agreement.

When Tony finished his explanation, Riley wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't believe her parents were involved in something so evil. "No. My parents couldn't have been Hydra. They were good people, they would never be a part of something like that!"

"Riley…" Tony reached out to her, but Riley slapped his arm away. "Whatever you thought about your parents is wrong. Even if you don't believe it, it doesn't change the fact that your parents were Hydra. For decades, Hydra's goal has been world domination, and they are willing to do _anything_ to achieve it. Fooling a girl for 18 years is something any one of them would do, and it would take almost no effort. They could have you wrapped around their little finger so tight, you wouldn't be able to breathe. And they would make you happy to do it too."

"So what? Am I just supposed to hate them now? Am I supposed to forget everything they've ever done for me? Every bedtime story, every good morning hug? When my dad taught me how to ride my bike, and didn't even laugh at me when all I could do was fall off it for the first week? When my mom made me hot fudge sundaes after my first break up? That was acting? I can't believe that. I _refuse_ to believe that."

Riley waited for someone to say something. To tell her that she was right, and this was all just a giant misunderstanding. That her parents obviously had nothing to do with Hydra, and she could just go back to remembering them without feeling guilty for still loving them. The room stayed silent, though, and that told Riley everything she needed to know. Without saying anything else, she left.

"Well, I'd say that went better than expected," Tony said after Riley had left. But even his normally light-hearted tone seemed heavier this time. He headed to the door, intending to go after her, but Steve grabbed his arm.

"Don't. She needs time to think. It's probably better for her to be left alone for a while. And I'm sure you're the last person she wants to see right now." For once, Tony had no witty comeback.

"Riley has left," Jarvis announced.

"Where the hell did she go?" Tony demanded.

"She said she was going to find out the truth for herself."

"That idiot…" Tony swore that in the two days of being parent, the amount of gray hairs on his head increased exponentially.

"Well, it's safe to say she's definitely yours." Natasha said.

 **A/N- This chapter is a bit shorter, but if I don't end it here, it'll probably just go forever! The story and plot is really kicking off from** **here, so I'm really excited for the next few chapters. Hopefully you are too! Hope you enjoyed reading, and don't forget to let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter Nine

**A/N- THIS IS THE REWRITTEN VERSION OF CHAPTER NINE. I AM SOOOO MUCH HAPPIER WITH THIS VERSION, AND IT IS FAIRLY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I HAD POSTED BEFORE. EVEN IF YOU READ IT THE FIRST TIME, YOU NEED TO READ IT AGAIN.**

Opening your door and walking into your own house shouldn't feel wrong. It should be something you don't even have to think about. A reflex. Coming home should feel like, well, coming home. And yet it took Riley 10 minutes just to will herself to unlock the door.

she wasn't even sure why she came here in the first place. She wanted answers, and if her parents were really part of Hydra, they sure as hell wouldn't keep anything that could trace them back to the organization in the house. Not with a snoopy teenager around, anyway.

Everything in the living room and kitchen was just as broken as she left it. Glass was still everywhere, the wall was still charred, and the tequila was still sitting next to the melted remains of her cell phone.

Riley picked up the bottle. "You, my friend, have gotten so much more attractive since the last time I saw you." She uncapped it and took a long sip. It tasted terrible, as usual, but she didn't care.

Bottle in hand and taking sips every now and then, Riley continued on to her old bedroom. _Old bedroom? Since when did I start thinking of it as my 'old bedroom?'_ Technically, she still lived in this house. Even though she knew that, she also knew this would never be her home again. The realization hurt. Another sip of tequila made it hurt a little less.

From her room, she grabbed most of her clothes and jewelry, her old teddy bear, her camera, some school things, and a framed photograph taken during family outing from a few years ago. She shoved it all into a large duffle bag.

Riley plopped onto her bed, and looked around her room. "Hey, Riley, let's play a game!" She said to herself. "Every time you see something or think something that makes you sad, take a sip. Oh wait, that's everything!" She choked down as much alcohol as she could in one breath. When she was done, the bottle was about half empty. It was almost full when she first got to it. Riley set the remainder down on her dresser.

"Time to do what I came here to do… Let the snooping begin! Oh! but first…" Riley took out a long sleeved black T-shirt and black jean shorts from the duffle bag and put them on. If she was going to act like a spy, she had to look like one. And this was as close as she could get. She was pretty drunk by this point, so it made perfect sense to her. She would have put on black shoes too, but her combat boots weren't sneaky enough.

She went into her parent's old office next. They had always been fairly secretive about their work, so Riley had never been allowed to spend much time in there. Now she knew why. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the room. There was bookshelves lining the walls, a desk with a computer on top, and a couple file cabinets. She didn't know what she expected, but a normal home office wasn't it.

Riley started her search with papers on the desk, but they were all bills or something equally as boring. The same went for everything she could find in the file cabinet. She opened drawers, looked in books, searched the computer, checked under carpets… There was nothing that pointed to her being Hydra.

Since there was nothing in the office, she decided her next best shot was their bedroom. The only thing she found in there, however, was her dad's keys. They were on a lanyard with a needles and stethoscopes pattern Riley had gotten him a few years ago. Of course, that was when she had thought her dad was just a regular doctor. Along with their house keys were the keys to her dad's car, his work access badge, and a mail key. "Ew, now I'm sad again…"

Riley slid the lanyard around her neck and stood in front of the mirror. She held up the badge, pretending she was her father and her reflection was someone else. "Heeellloo, I'm Mr. McLiarpants from Liars incorporated. I would loooovvveeeee to chat some more, but I haven't met my betrayl quota for the day yet, so I will see you lateeerr." She laughed at herself so hard, she had to sit on the ground to keep from falling over.

She sat on the floor, twirling the badge around in her hands. "Hold on...if the hospital was shut down years ago, and the jobs were a cover all along...then what the hell is the access badge for? " Her brows came together as her mind worked out every possible reason. The answer was relatively obvious, but it took her longer to arrive at a conclusion than usual due to the alcohol inhibiting her thought process. Dr. David Marlowe was printed on the front, under his picture. And underneath that was the name of the hospital where he supposedly worked. "Oh oh oh oh oh, the hospital, the hospital! Everything's at the hospital!"

Riley jumped up and down, overjoyed that she had figured it out. Of course everything was at the hospital! She bet it was a secret base or something like that. The idea thrilled her. She had to go there as soon as possible so she could see for herself.

 _Ring...Ring...Ring_. In the living room, the home phone was ringing. The repeated sound was like a drill forcing its way through Riley head. "Shut up! you're so loud!" She yelled at it. the phone refused to stop ringing until she finally gave in and went to answer the phone. She picked it up and took it with her back into her own bedroom.

"Hellooo?" Riley was back to being excited again now that the phone stopped being annoying, and the tone of her voice showed it.

"Oh my God, Riley!? You finally answered!" The person who called was Noelle, Riley's best friend since second grade. With everything going on, she almost forgot about her. "I heard what happened, are you ok? nevermind, of course you aren't okay. Listen, I'm here for you all right? Oh God, Riley, I was so scared you had…" Noelle's voice cracked. "That you had...Anyway, are you coming back to school soon?"

"Noelle! I'm sooo sorry. I meant to call you, but I kinda melted my phone and I haven't been home for a while. Oh! I have so much to tell you. You are gonna freeeaaak. But first i have to do a, um, a thing. It's a really important thing. I can't remember what it was, but I really have to go do it."

"What? This is the first time I've talked to you in three days, and you already want to hang up? Come on Riley, you know it's not gonna be that easy. You haven't been in school for like forever, and I have sooo much to tell you. You know our history teacher? Yeah, he's totally sleeping with a student, and-"

"Wait, ssshhh." Riley hushed her friend. She thought she heard something by the front door.

"What? Why?"

"I think someone's in my house." she whispered.

"Oh my god, that's so scary...are you ok? Get like, uh, a baseball bat or something. Or a knife! yeah, get a knife!" Now Noelle was whispering too. Riley smiled, realizing that if there was someone in the house, she wouldn't need a knife or a baseball bat to take them down. She had a built in weapon of her own.

"I'm gonna hang up, I'll call you later." Now she could definitely hear footsteps.

"Wait wait wait! You're at least coming to graduation, right?! It's in 2 weeks now!" Noelle always did have a problem with her priorities.

"Seriously? You want to talk about graduation _now?_ I have to go. Bye." She hung up, and set the phone down on her bed. Slowly, she grabbed the duffle bag, and slid out of her bedroom door. If she was quiet enough, she could sneak out through the back door. And if she wasn't, she could always knock em down with her light.

She made it to the back door, but before she could make it all the way out, the footsteps stopped right behind her. Whoever it was tried to grab her arm. Riley formed a mass of light around her fist and punched them. With the other arm, she swung the duffle bag at them to knock them down. It seemed to do the trick.

With a grunt, the figure tumbled to the ground. The only problem was, they took Riley down with them.

 **So who do you think the person in Riley's house was? Was it Hydra? An Avenger? Or someone we don't even know yet? Let me know your theories in the comments/reviews! Whoever guesses right by the time I update the next chapter will get a special shout-out in the author's notes next chapter!**

 **As always, thanks for reading!**

 **Love,**

 **Paprika-chan**


	11. Chapter Ten

"That idiot…" Tony swore that in the two days of being parent, the amount of gray hairs on his head increased exponentially.

"Well, it's safe to say she's definitely yours." Natasha said.

"Very funny. Now I really _am_ going after her."

Clint spoke up,"I still don't think that's a good idea. Someone else should do it." Everyone else in the room seemed to agree.

"I'll go," Steve offered. Tony scowled. "Look, we got along pretty well tonight. Out of everyone here, she's least likely to punch me."

Tony gave in unusually easily. "Fine. But when you find her, call me. She probably went to her house. Jarvis can send the address to your phone. Oh, and give her this." He handed Steve a brand new phone to give to Riley.

"Got it," Steve said as he left.

Riley's house wasn't far, but it wasn't exceptionally close either. On his motorcycle, Steve was able to get there within 45 minutes. There was a light on in one of the rooms toward the back of the house. _Good, she's here,_ he thought.

He opened the door without a sound. The last thing he wanted was for Riley to hear him coming and then take off. Knowing her father, it was very likely that would be the case. Not that he couldn't run and catch up with her.

In the house, it was nearly impossible to tread quietly. Glass all over the ground crunched under his feet with each step. He was sure Riley could hear him walking. Her voice carried over from a room down the hall, and as he got closer her she became hushed.

After a moment of Steve standing still so as not to be heard, Riley came sneaking out of the room. She lugged a large duffle bag around with her on her way to the back door.

Steve came up behind her, and reached for her arm. Riley responded by connecting her glowing fist to his face, and her bag to his shoulder. Both of them became fast friends with the floor. He grabbed her before she could get up and make a run for it. She tried to squirm away, but it wasn't working.

"Hey, hey, it's me!" Steve declared. Riley stopped trying to get away and turned to face him (which wasn't an easy task, being pinned down by a large bag and 220 lbs of man). When she saw who the intruder was, her face lit up.

"HEY CAP, WHAT'S UP BRO?" She shouted. He winced from the volume of her voice so close to his ear. Her breath reeked of alcohol.

He stood up, and helped Riley back on her feet. She was shaking with pent up energy, which she chose to release via a violent hug around his neck. "Steve, beautiful, beautiful Steve! This is great!" She said, with a kiss on his cheek. "You can help me break into the hospital!" She grasped his wrist and attempted to drag him out the door. He didn't budge.

She frowned, "fine, I'll just go by myself." Her elation was sufficiently crushed. She took a step, but was stopped by a muscular arm trapping her in place. It took no effort for Steve to hold her there with one arm while he called Stark.

"You're not going anywhere,"Steve said to her while the phone rang.

Tony picked up right away, "Was she there? Do you have her? Is she okay?" He wasn't quite frantic, but he was as close to it as Iron Man could ever be.

"She's fine. Very drunk, but fine." Riley tried biting Steve's arm to get away. She gave up after three bites. Next, she tried to headbutt him by slamming her head backwards. Seeing as she was a full head shorter than him, she was only able to kind of hit his neck. "Give up yet?"

Riley looked up at him. "...yes..."

"Here, Stark wants to talk to you." Steve held the phone up to her ear for her.

"Please tell me you at least drank the good stuff." Tony said from the other end.

"That depends, does grocery store tequila count as the good stuff?"

"Absolutely not. Shame on you. Shame!"

"Well, now that we've got that covered, what do you want?"

"You need to come back to the apartment. Hydra could be out there, and chances are, they're keeping a close eye on you. It's safer if you're here where I-"

"I'm not coming back," Riley cut him off. "You're wrong about my parents, and I'm going to prove it." She was still angry at Tony, although the logic behind her feelings would have been utterly lost on sober Riley. To drunk Riley, however, it made perfect sense. Tony had accused her parents of being part of a terrible organization based on what happened with the files. That obviously meant that everything wrong ever was completely his fault, and she should be enraged by the very thought of him. Drunk Riley wasn't a very tolerant or sensible person.

7 minutes of angry bantering resulted in this conclusion: Riley would spend the night at Steve's, who could handle both a drunk and sullen mutant and any possible Hydra sightings, then Riley would return to Stark tower the next day once she was over her temper tantrum of denial.

"Alright, get on." Steve said, handing Riley a helmet.

"Aye Aye captain." She gave him a small salute and took the helmet and rammed it onto her head. Steve strapped to duffle bag onto the bike and got on in front of Riley. An intoxicated giggle slipped from her lips while they were preparing to leave. She wrapped her arms around him. "This is going to be so much fun. I love sleepovers!"

 **A/N- Okay, so another fairly short chapter. I have a couple things to talk about, so bear with me.**

 **I just wanted to mention that I DO NOT CONDONE DRINKING TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. So yeah. don't do that.**

 **I feel like I'm having a hard time getting into Steve's character. Does he seem in character to you guys? If not, what about him does not seem in character? I forget if I've already asked you guys this in a previous chapter, but whatever.**

 **As always, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!**


	12. Chapter Eleven

Riley had fallen asleep several stoplights ago, her snores rivaling the roar of the motorcycle. Her drool didn't add to her "graceful sleeper" points, either. Steve remained wide awake, despite how late it had become. They would be lucky if they reached his apartment before 2 am.

It was funny, he thought, how someone like Tony could produce someone like Riley. She had none of his arrogance, but all of his stubbornness. And he couldn't help but notice both of them had the same air of mischief that was hard to hide. Where Tony oozed confidence, Riley was left with an odd sort of awkwardness that seemed to overwhelm her. She was very fidgety, and her hair stuck out in all the wrong places. Not to mention her newly acquired habit of glowing when she was uncomfortable.

They came to another stoplight. A large black car pulled up beside them. Steve paid no attention to it, until the same car pulled up beside them again four blocks later. It was clear they were being followed. To be sure, Steve began taking sudden turns, looping around blocks, going one way for a while and then abruptly changing directions. The car stayed with him effortlessly.

Driving away from the car had turned into being steered by it. With little control over his path, Steve had come to an old road. Trees stretched overhead, blocking any light from the moon. Ruts in the pavement threatened to send the two off the bike at the speed they were going- not that they had a say in how fast they were going.

Twists, turns, and a massive headache shook Riley awake. Drool lingered on the side of her mouth, and the back of Steve's shirt. "oops," she mumbled, attempting to wipe off the stain with her sleeve. The muscles in his back were taut, pulled together with apprehension.

"Hold on as tight as you can!" The captain ordered over the sound of the two vehicles.

Riley looked over her shoulder. Headlights shone in her face. Behind the light she could make out the image of a daunting car, coming at them at full speed.

"Wait, I've seen that car before!" A faint memory of an upside down car driving away crossed her mind. No, she had been the one upside down. It had been right after the accident. She had been too focused on everything else to realize that she had seen the car that drove her and her parents off the road. A dent in the front bumper confirmed it. By the looks of it, the car meant to run her off once more. No way in hell she was letting that happen. Again.

There wasn't time to tell Cap what she had remembered. She had to stop the car first. And there was something she could do that she knew would be effective.

she reached her hand back and aimed at the car. There was no way she could hit it at this angle. She had to face the other way.

Riley swung one leg over to the other side, like she was riding side saddle.

"What are you doing?" Steve demanded.

"Something incredibly idiotic and dangerous." She swung the other leg over. Now she was backwards. A bump. She clutched the seat, trying not to fall.

"No, you're not, turn back around!" Riley laughed. It was almost sad how he thought she would actually listen to him. Of course she wouldn't. Not while she had a whole legacy of stupid to live up to.

She could see the car clearly now. The windows were too dark to see through, but the driver's intentions were clear. If it weren't for the Cap's impeccable "drive away from the scary vehicle" skills, they would have been dead a long time ago.

Another bump caused Riley to lurch forward, and she almost fell off again. "Stop doing that!" She yelled. Her grip on the seat was as tight as it could get, but that wouldn't matter if there were any larger dips in the road.

"Oh, sorry, hold on while I fill in each whole individually. Don't worry, I'll just ask that nice car to pull over for a minute while I do that. I have complete control over this situation!" he shouted back.

"All right, I get it! Cool your jets, Captain Sass! Just _try_ to avoid the holes. I won't be able to hold onto the seat while I do this."

The car was closer now. It revved its engines.

Riley let go, and raised her hands in front of her, pointing straight at the windshield of their attacker.

The light came to her easier than ever. Brighter, too. It buzzed through her body, pouring out of her hands and tumbling into the ball. It kept building up until it exceeded the size of her head.

She let it go with a grunt, and it smashed into the other car. Glass and blinding light flew in every direction. Riley was grateful for the helmet that covered her eyes.

The car swerved violently. The screeching tires hit one of the larger holes and sent the car straight into a tree. The driver, now visible with the tinted glass gone, slouched in his seat. He was either unconscious, or dead. If Riley was being honest, she wouldn't have minded if it was the latter.

Steve slowed down, turned around, and pulled over by the tree the car had crashed into. He kicked down the kickstand, and got off the bike. "Stay here," he ordered. Riley got off and followed behind him anyway.

He pulled something out of a side compartment of his motorcycle. A gun. He held in front of him as he went to inspect the driver. He was middle aged man with a scarred face, a wide nose, and, thanks to Riley, a few missing teeth.

Steve placed two fingers on the man's neck. After a few seconds he announced, "He's alive."

"Is that good?"

"We'll see." Steve sighed, and took out his phone. "I'm calling Tony, he'll come pick him up and take him back to the tower. Once this guy wakes up, someone is going to have to question him. There's no way I can fit all of us on my bike."

Riley sat back down on the bike and waited for him to get off the phone. Her headache had gone in the excitement of the chase, but it was back now, more painful than ever.

"Thanks," Steve said, hanging up. He came over and sat beside Riley.

Neither of them talked for a while. Steve was on full alert in case the man woke up again, though he had removed any weapons from the car and tied him up, and Riley just didn't know what to say.

She leaned against Steve. Everything felt heavy now. It was incredible how draining firing light balls was.

Steve responded by putting an arm around her.

"Hey," Riley broke the silence.

"Hm." Steve said, not looking away from the man.

"Can we still have a sleepover?"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Just so you all know, I will be on vacation until the 12th of September, and will likely be unable to update during that time.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think!**


	13. ATTENTION Chapter ONE

**For National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), I will be rewriting this story. I will be posting rewritten chapters here. Keep in mind, this means chapters are unedited (as is the spirit of NaNo), and the story may change quite a bit. I'm really behind on my word count, so chapter may be slow, but expect there to be at least a few by the end of the month. I'm sorry you guys have to read this while I'm still figuring everything out...maybe someday I'll make up my mind on this damn thing...ANYWAY, I may or may not continue the original version. We'll see which on I like better by the end of the month. That is why I am posting chapters here, and not on a new story (I apologize).**

 **Also, if any of you feel like doing some editing for me, you can pm me your email and I will share my google docs with this story on it with you, and you can leave me comments on anything you think needs to be fixed. This means you get to read the chapters before anyone else!**

 **Enjoy the first chapter I have written, mostly under the influence of coffee, and very little sleep.**

 **Chapter One**

The sun reached the ground, spilling into pools of brilliant light that captured the bird. Unaware of it's own importance, the feathered creature pecked away at the concrete in search of food, like the brainless thing it pretended to be. It was perfect. Nothing but the vibrant greens of the bushes could steal its beauty away from it.

 _Click._

The bird flew away with the shutter of the camera lens, but I didn't care. I already had my perfect shot.

"Can I talk now?" Noelle whispered next to me. She had stood there patiently for the last five minutes, silent, just as I had told her to do. I had to hand it to her; that must have been hard. She was hardly the silent type. She shifted her weight to the other foot, and scowled at me, waiting for a response.

"Sure, but I'd rather you not." I studied my latest photos. There were some good ones, but the final few were all blurry, but overall I was satisfied. _Thank you, sun, for being exceptionally bright today._

Noelle glared at me, and threw up her middle finger. Ah, friendship. How nice. "Can we just go now? You're parents are probably waiting for you in the car, and my feet hurt so _fucking_ bad. If you would stop taking pictures of birds every 5 goddamn minutes we would both be home by now, and I would out of these fucking shoes! Seriously, why didn't you tell me not to wear heals to graduation?!"

"Looks like _somebody_ needs a snickers," I laughed. Unlike Noelle, I was in a fantastic mood. A beautiful sunny day, a new camera, a new diploma, a new life...nothing could bring me down. Especially not when I have a great surprise waiting for me at home- or so I'm told by my parents. "You're still coming to my party, right?"

Rolling her eyes at me, Noelle sighed. "Of course I am. That's why we planned them for different days, remember?"

"No. I try to forget our conversations," I teased.

"Watch it Riley, or I'll take back my invitation to you for MY party."

"Is that a promise?"

We laughed at ourselves, still teasing each other the same way we used to when we were just kids. The only difference was instead of butthead, it was asshole, and instead of sticking our tongues out, we flipped each other off. But really, it was just like we never left the second grade.

We reached the parking lot where both our parents waited for us to take us home. We didn't even bother saying goodbye, as we would be seeing each other later that night for my graduation party.

Eight outfits, three failed attempts at acceptable eyeliner, and a sad excuse for a messy bun later, and I was finally ready for my party. My parents had been planning it for weeks, and had to call ahead even before that to get reservations for the restaurant. That's what happens when your favorite dining establishment had a perfect view of the Avenger's headquarters. Not that that had anything to do with it being my favorite restaurant. Just kidding, that's pretty much the exact reason. I'm not afraid to admit I have a slight obsession.

My mom screamed up the stairs, "Riley! If you don't get down here in 1 minute, we're leaving without you!"

"Coming!" Here's to hoping my mom doesn't get so frustrated she kills me by the end of the night...

Rain drifted past my open window. I hated being in the car, and my mom driving wasn't helping. It's not that she was a terrible driver...she just always insisted on playing the worst music while she drove. And todays ride was going to be a long one. I practically begged her to let me, dad, or our neighbor's cat,drive, but she insisted that she wanted me to be able to relax on our way to the party. It was a long drive, the restaurant being downtown, and us living in the suburbs of New York, and she said "today is a special day! You shouldn't drive on your special day!" No amount of reasoning worked. My mom failed to understand how driving, and not listening to terrible music, could possibly be relaxing.

Halfway there, and we were on the second repetition of her favorite CD. My dad complained the entire time that he was losing his appetite, while my mom just laughed it off. I pulled out my camera, desperate for a distraction from her latest country fascination.

 _Click._ The rain had made a lovely pattern on the sunroof, almost like liquid stars in a gray universe. _Click_. My mom sang with great enthusiasm, and my dad groaned with even greater enthusiasm. _Click._ The street lights had finally turned on, reflected in beginnings of a puddle. _Click_. The blur of the cars around us creates a wall of headlights. _Click._ A pair of those headlights is coming straight at us. _Click._

I've never been a huge fan of actions movies. Exploding buildings and crashing cars had seemed too fictional to excite me. I wondered, if when this was over, I would be able to watch an action movie in the same, bored way again. I probably won't be able to. Not without comparing it to this night.

It's not like the movies. You don't have time to turn the to _just_ the right angle, so everyone lives. You don't even realize what's happened until it's too late to do anything but wait and die. You don't feel anything at first. It's what you hear that's the scary part. The sound of crunching metal, the shattering of glass, and the shriek of the brakes, as they try to stop the inevitable. I'll never be able to forget.

It was bright. Loud. Violent. I couldn't bring myself to focus on what was happening, there were too many sights, scents, sounds...I didn't know what was going on. I struggled to hold onto to a lucid minute, the seconds skipping around in bright light, unbearable heat and the terrible sensation of spinning.

I was on the ground, wet. Heavy raindrops fell from the sky mixing with the glass and blood in my hair. I groaned, and tried to get up. A foot stepped on my arm, preventing me from doing so. I called for my parents. Screamed their names, even. I sprawled out my other arm, reaching, searching, for any sign of them. The foot pushed down harder. I yelped.

"Don't move," someone said. I didn't listen. I had to find them. I had to make sure they were okay. I soon learned that was a horrible idea. Who ever had been keeping me down picked me up. They were rough. If their goal was to hit every cut and bruise while flinging me around, they were doing a marvelous job. Every movement was filled with pain. My head throbbed, and I was hardly able to catch even a few coherent glimpses of the scene. Those I did catch, I didn't like.

Our car, totaled. A second car right in front, no damage. I It was huge compared to our small Nissan. No wonder it had so easily crumpled our trunk was open, and I had a dreadful feeling that I would soon be the lone occupant of said trunk.

A crumpled figure rose from the wreckage of our car. It was my dad, trying to stop whoever was taking me. His left arm swung at his side, limp, His face was almost unrecognizable, the only truly visible feature were the whites of his eyes- the only things that stood out against the red of his face. He leaned on the remnants of our car, shaking violently. His less damaged arm raised slowly, aiming something at the person holding me. A gun.

The person sighed. "Come on, you don't really want to do that," it was a man's voice. He sounded amused, almost. "do you, Rick?" Rick. Who's Rick? My dad's name is David…

"Let my daughter…" He was sent into a coughing fit, the gun shaked wildly in his hands, "let her...go!" His hand tightened its grip, attempting a more solid aim.

The man laughed, "You and I both know I can't do that." He flung me over his other shoulder, freeing up a hand. I heard the soft click of a gun, ready to be fired at any moment.

A gunshot. A thump. The broken man who had been my father no longer stood. The man laughed again. Something inside me boiled. Who ever this psycho was, they had no fucking business coming here, causing our car to crash, killing my mom in the collision, shooting me dad! They would be fucking sorry they had messed with me and my family.

"You killed my them…" I whispered. "you...killed them…" I felt sick. More than that, I was burning. I was terrified, and pissed, and confused, and shocked, and the only thing I could think of was hurting him. Any disorientation would have to wait. I thrashed against the man, trying, nd ultimately failing, to get away. He held me tighter, I kicked harder. He threatened to shoot me, and I bit him.

He dropped me to the ground, and I backed away as fast as I could. I stood up, swaying slightly. He aimed his gun at me. My gut felt hotter now, and an intense pressure was building up. The heat was spreading, first to my legs, making me stand a little sturdier, then to my arms, giving me the strength to bring them up to my face.

I was ready to fight.

The man taunted me. He chuckled, not believed for one second that I was any threat to him.

He came at me, slamming the handle of his gun into my forehead. I fell to the ground. He reached for me again, but his hand recoiled. He looked at me, eyes wide. "Fuck, you're _that_ one…" he cursed. The world was becoming brighter and brighter until everywhere I looked was doused in an angry yellow light. It took me a while to realize it was coming from me. I lifted my hand, not too sure what I expected to happen

It certainly wasn't that.

A flying unicorn coming to my rescue, my dad coming back to life and finally taking that shot, the man dropping his gun, apologizes, and simply disappearing...anything seemed more like than what actually happened.

The light radiating from my body had come together to form a ball, about the size of a basket ball, formed right in front of where I held out my hand. It was solid light. The man barely had any time to react to it coming right at him.

A small blast, and it was all over.

I woke with bright lights blaring in my face. The sound of constant beeping and the smell of antiseptic hung in the mouth tasted like I ate an iron bar for lunch, and my stomach felt the same. Something soft squeezed my hand, and I heard a tiny gasp.

"Riley? Riley! You're awake, oh my god, thank God, holy fuck, you're awake!" Noelle sat next to my bed. Tears of relief poured out of her eyes, as she struggled between getting a nurse and hugging me. I really wish she hadn't chosen the latter. Her hug was sweet, and emotionally comforting, but holy hell did it hurt...Noelle pulled back, and looked at me. Her blues eyes were framed with red, and her blonde hair was in a frenzy. She looked like _she_ was the one in a car wreck. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Can I get you anything?"

I tried to sit up, and soon regretted it. My stomach had been burned, and there were cuts and bruises everywhere. Every limb had some sort of bandage around it, and even my head hadn't escaped unscathed. I was the mother fucking Wizard of Gauze. "Noelle…" She leaned forward, and held my hand tighter. "What am I going to do now?"

Noelle looked down, then launched into another hug. "I don't know," she whispered to me. "I really don't know…"

 **Sorry of anything seems odd, or I use a word too much, or something isn't spelled right. Like I said...unedited**


	14. NEW CHAPTER TWO

Chapter Two

[Two months ago]

 _Someone knocked softly on my bedroom door. I shut my laptop and told them to come in. My mom opened the door, and shut it behind her. She sat down beside me on my bed, and took my hand. Distress was written all over her face, and it took her a minute before she spoke. "Riley, you know your father and I love you very much," she started, "and we would do anything for you. As your parents." She took a deep breath and paused just long enough for me to say something._

" _Mom, what's going on?" I'll admit, her tone of voice was concerning. Something really seemed wrong. She ignored my question._

" _You're eighteen now, and it's about time you know. You're father was right, I should have stopped beating around the bush a long time ago" Her voice cracked slightly. "Riley...oh gosh I can hardly say it... you're adopted."_

" _I know," I said, completely unfazed._

 _My mom's face froze, stuck in a rather unflattering state of confusion. "You knew? For how long?!"_

" _Since sixth grade. I did a project on blood types. Two O types can't result in an AB blood type."_

 _She was dumbfounded. Slowly processing what I had said, she asked one more question. "Why didn't you say anything?"_

 _I smiled, and squeezed her hand. "Because I don't care. You and dad are my parents. I don't need to share your DNA to know that." My mom laughed, and hugged me, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek._

 _She pulled away and was quiet again. She produced a manilla folder from behind her back, and handed it to me. "If anything were to happen to your father and me, I want you to have this. It contains your original birth certificate, and the names of your birth parents. If anything were to happen, go to them." She stood up, having done what she came to do, and left me to think by myself._

 _I held the folder, curiosity begging me to open it, and the love for my parents begging me not to. Finally, I took the folder, unopened, and shoved in my desk drawer, determined not to give it a second thought._

[Present]

Three days at the city hospital flew by in a medicated haze. Noelle had been by my side the duration of my stay there, and was both a relief and a nuisance. I loved having her around, as she was very supportive, but I could have done without a certain representation of the male anatomy that I had to disguise as a rocketship. This was exponentially more difficult since I had to resort to using my left hand to edit the drawing, because the cast was on my right arm. Seriously, Noelle? Have some respect for your friend's broken arm!

By early afternoon I was checked out of the hospital, and Noelle was dropping me off at home. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" She asked, for the fifth time since picking me up. She placed the lasagna and muffins, courtesy of her mother, on the counter with my prescriptions.

I assured her I was perfectly fine on my own, and warned her that she couldn't afford to take any more days off work. I grabbed a muffin, and took a huge bite. It was melt-in-your-mouth warm. "Mmm," I said "It's always nice eating muffins fresh out of the oven."

Noelle gave me a strange look. "Are you sure you haven't taken your pain meds yet? 'Cuz you sound like it. Those muffins were made last night." To prove her point, she picked up a second muffin and rubbed in my face how it indeed room temperature. I laughed it off, and blamed it on being sleep deprived and hungry. The last thing I wanted was for Noelle to think my brain had somehow been damaged in the accident, and took another bite, ignoring the heat I so clearly felt from the baked good.

"I'll be back right after work to check on you, okay?" Noelle said from the doorway.

"Yeah, yeah. Really, I'll be fine," I lied.

She gave me her specialty look. The one that made it clear she wasn't going to put up with my BS. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I seem to get that look a lot. "Don't take your meds until after you eat something." She reminded me. "And drink plenty of water! And-" I shoved her out the door with my good arm.

"Have a good day at work!" I yelled at her, slamming the door on the rest of her motherly warnings. On her way to her car she shouted "call me if you need anything!" and then was off.

I sighed in relief, turning back to the now empty house. The vastness of it seemed to magnify my grief, making it echo against every wall. I walked back into the kitchen on less-than-steady feet, wiping my cheeks clear of tears every now and then. I poured myself a rather large glass of juice, made my way into the living room, and took a seat in my dad's favorite chair. He wouldn't be needing it anymore.

I turned on the TV, and for the next few hours, I was able to cast away any thoughts of the accident and focus all my terrible feelings on how much I hated the laugh tracks on the Big Bang Theory. That soon ended when I changed the channel, only to be met with one of the most violent crash scene I have ever seen in an action movie.

I stopped breathing, my heart seized up, and no matter what I did, I couldn't look away. Faces in the movie were replaced with the faces of my family. Gunshots rung in my ears. The camera panned to show a shot of blood leaking from the car. I caught a sight of myself in the pool. What I saw terrified me.

The light was back with twice the ferocity of before. My skin was radiating light and heat, particularly in the palms of my hands. What was left of the juice began to boil in the glass. I jumped from the chair and yelped. The glass fell from my hands and exploded into a million pieces on the hardwood floor.

"No, no, no, no," I cried. I backed up against the wall, trying to get a hold of myself. I was shaking violently, and no amount of telling myself to "get it together" was helping.

The cast around my right arm was beginning to melt, filling the room with the smell of burning plastic. Blisters were forming on some areas on my skin, and even the smallest gesture of my hands sent a ball of light shooting across the room.

One of the balls, after effectively destroying my TV, came back and hit me in the stomach. I coughed. I sobbed. I cough-sobbed.

Not knowing what else to do to make the burning stop, I ran to the bathroom and took refuge under a steady stream of freezing cold water. I crouched under the shower, buried my hands in my hair, and rocked myself back and forth, wishing more than anything that it would all just _go away_.

I don't know how long I stayed under the running water in that position, but it had to have been at least a few hours. I was yanked back into reality by Noelle's lady like screeching, "what the FUCK happened here!?" followed by sprinting down the hall, and the doorknob slamming into the bathroom wall as she flung it open. "Riley! Are you okay? What happened!? Oh my god, you're a mess!" She pried my hands off of my head, holding them close to her heart. She searched my face for an explanation.

I tried to tell her what happened. How the scene in the movie made me flip out. How I tried to calm down, but only made it worse. How I must be some sort of freak that can produce blasts of energy. But none of that would come out. The only thing I could do was hug her, and cry.

Beautiful, magical Noelle had somehow persuaded me to get out of the shower, dry off, and put on some decent clothes while she started cleaning up the mess. She also told me to pack a bag. We were going to spend the night at her house.

I sat in my room, wondering what I should pack, when I remembered something I hadn't thought about in months. The folder. of course, the folder! I opened my desk drawer, half expecting it to be gone. It wasn't.

' _If anything were to happen, go to them.'_

I gingerly pulled out the birth certificate, bracing myself for knowledge I wasn't sure I was prepared to have. The names of my birth parents. Two people I've never even heard of that I was undeniably connected to.

Except I _had_ heard of them. At least, I've heard of my father. Right there, in the space reserved for the father's name, was a name I could never forget.

Anthony E. Stark.


	15. New Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Emma Stewart and Tony Stark. I must have read the names a dozen times, and they still looked so unfamiliar,so daunting. I can't say whether I was confused, happy, or anything else for that matter. In all honesty, I was a lot of things, and I didn't know what any of them were.

The Stark name loomed over me, it's weight so overpowering that I had to sit on my bed so I could catch my breath. How is this possible? I thought. How could I, the local nobody, be related to _him_? And my mother. What was she like? Was she a model? An actress? I knew what his type was before Pepper. A journalist maybe?

"Riley, I'm coming in," Noelle announced. She opened my bedroom door, tea in one hand, and a rolled up ace bandage held under her armpit to free up the other. "Oh good, you finished getting dressed." She gave me that smile. You know the one. The "you poor thing" smile. I hated it.

Noelle set the tea on my bedside table, and sat beside me. She took my arm with the burns into her hands and begun the process of wrapping it. Every now and then I caught a whiff of disinfectant and cleaner that took me back to the hospital. "Does it hurt?" Noelle asked.

"Yeah. Kinda." There was no point in telling her no. I'm sure my whispered curses when she touched the more sensitive burns had already given me away.

"Jesus Christ, Riley. What happened while I was gone?"

I had already run a few scenarios in my head where I told her everything. In each one of them, she called me a freak and assassinated me on the spot. Granted, that was probably just my drugged-up paranoia talking, but you know, anything is possible.

"I'll tell you what happened, but you have to promise you'll believe me." She raised an eyebrow. "I know I've very little sleep and a lot of drugs, but I swear I'm not making this up." She assured me she would believe whatever I told her, and continued to wrap my arm.

"Since the crash, I've been experiencing these...episodes. During them, I heat up and produce light that sometimes forms a ball and goes apeshit crazy. It's painful, and bright, and destructive, and I have no idea how to stop it from happening." There. I said it. I could feel myself shaking a bit. Noelle didn't seem to notice.

How could she when she was too busy laughing her ass off?

"Seriously Riley? You can come up with something better than that. If you're going to make shit up, at least be a bit more _creative_." What? Did I miss something? When she finally noticed that I wasn't laughing along with her, it was her turn to be confused. "Wait, you don't remember?"

"What?" I was utterly baffled by her reaction.

"Come on! Really? You're telling you don't remember, _at all_?" I shook my head. "That's the exact power you used to make up when we would pretend to be superheroes! We played that so often, I'm honestly shocked you don't remember it."

"I promise, I have no idea what you're talk about."

"Wow. Ok. Well, you would alway say you had the power to control light, which I thought was super lame because obviously flying, mind reading, and flaming breath was way more badass. But anyway, you would refuse to wear anything except for your gold gymnastic leotard and a towel-cape."

"What?" All this was news to me.

"You called yourself 'The Glowworm.'" She could hardly hold in her laughter. "My mom still has the home videos," She said, wiping away a tear.

"Well, this time I'm not playing pretend." I hastily finished the wrapping job and stood up, ready to prove myself to her. The most I could pull off on command was a dim glow, but it was enough.

"Oh." Was all she said.

"I know what you're thinking. I'm a freak!"

"That's not what I-"

" I mean, you left me alone for only a few hours and I nearly blew up my house. What if it gets worse? What if I hurt someone next time? I have no idea how to control this stupid thing,and the name of the _only_ person that would have even the slightest clue is in that folder!" I gestured toward the folder, still on my bed. Noelle looked at it, then at me, then at it again.

"Can I…?" I nodded. She picked it up, looked at the birth certificate. Her face didn't change. "I'll take you there."

"What?"

"To Stark Tower. I'll take you there right now. He's probably still awake!"

Was she serious? "It's not that easy!" I tried to tell her. "He's Tony freaking Stark! I can just Waltz up to his front door in the middle of the night, claim he's my father with only a flimsy piece of paper to prove it, and ask him to cure me. Are you crazy?"

"Whatever," she brushed it off. "We'll figure it out when we get there, let's go." She stood up, file in hand, and started dragging me out the door.

"That's not much of a plan, is it?"

"Oh yeah?" Noelle turned around and gave me another one of her specialty looks. "And how have plans worked out for you in the past?"

"Hey!" I was only slightly offended. "My latest plan was a masterpiece!"

She rolled her eyes. I was looking at the back of her head, but I just knew she did. "They're _still_ finding crickets at school, and don't even get me started about the cow!"

Stark Tower, or the Avenger's Tower, whatever you want to call it, is a lot bigger in person than you would think. Perhaps the fate that awaited me inside of it was what made it look so huge, but I'm sure that only had a small part to do with it.

On the inside, it was just as surreal. Everything was so clean, and modern. The first two floors were usually open to visitors (Tony sure loved to show off), but to get into the private elevator you had to gain access through an intercom-like system next to the elevator door. Probably. I wasn't entirely sure what this thing was, actually. I had never seen anything like it before.

"I'm really doing this," I exclaimed in disbelief. Noelle gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'm about to meet my biological father!" Under any other circumstances I would be thrilled.

"Yeah, yeah, that will only happen if you actually push the buzzer."

"Well give me a second! I have to savour this moment and-  
She pushed it for me.

"Welcome to the Avenger's Headquarters," a warm, english voice welcomed us. "Please state your name, and enter the security code given to you at the time you scheduled your appointment." A projection of a keyboard came out of the wall, ready for us to input said code.

"Um, I don't have an appointment."

"This is troubling, indeed. Would you like to set an appointment now? There is an available time in 17 months." The voice informed us.

"I need to see Mr. Stark, right away, it's an emergency."

"I'm terribly sorry, but without an appointment, I can't allow you to-"

"That's okay JARVIS, I got this," Tony's voice took over the intercom. "What do you want?"

I looked at Noelle for some hint of what I should say. She shrugged. Way to be absolutely no help, thanks.

I decided to just go for it. "I'm your daughter, and I need your help." There was a brief pause on the other end.

"Come on up," the elevator doors opened. Though it sounded slightly more distanced we also heard "Pepper, I'm going to need another drink."


End file.
